Clear up begins after shipping containers fall overboard in Solent | Container news

Shipping containers full of bananas and other exotic fruits have washed ashore around Selsey, West Sussex, as 16 containers fell overboard from a Liberia-flagged reefer cargo ship. Work to clear up the containers that washed ashore is under way.

Warnings have been broadcast to ships in the Solent after 16 containers fell overboard from the ship Baltic Klipper near the Nab Tower in the Solent on December 6, according to UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

The MCA said no crew members were injured, and the containers are carrying “non-hazardous cargo.”

Eleven of the 16 containers lost from the cargo ship have been washed ashore in areas of West Sussex. Seven containers have so far been located in Selsey, two at Pagham Harbour and two at Bognor.

As part of the operational response, HM Coastguard helicopter and fixed wing aircraft have been undertaking offshore searches in an attempt to locate the outstanding containers.

HM Coastguard alongside West Sussex fire and rescue service and Sussex police have put cordons in place and are asking people not to go near the containers.

Eight of the containers were reported as carrying bananas, two as carrying plantain, one as carrying avocados, and the remaining five as empty, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) confirmed.

A spokesperson for the MCA said on Sunday: “West Sussex County Council has contracted response teams, who will arrive in the morning to start clearing cargo that has come ashore.”

The MCA advised the public to avoid the area and that “all wreck material found in the UK has to be reported to HM Coastguard’s Receiver of Wreck.”

But it said “that will not include perishable goods like foodstuffs” and “members of the public should comply with the instructions provided by the council.”

“Any additional sightings of containers should be reported to the Coastguard. Those who fail to declare items within 28 days are breaking the law and may have further action taken against them,” it added.

The HM Coastguard is currently monitoring the situation and working with the relevant authorities, including the vessel’s owners.

Broadcasts are being sent to warn local shipping, MCA said, and Selsey coastguard rescue team is on patrol.

_{The story is under development, and more information will be provided by the MCA here.}